Building good relationships between people of different faiths and beliefs is part of the year-round work of organisations like Grassroots, Luton Council of Faiths, and Near Neighbours Programme, but having a special Inter Faith Week provides a focal point, and helps to involve wider participation in inter-faith activities.

Commemorating this year’s Inter Faith Week, Luton Council of Faiths (LCoF), brought together faith leaders to celebrate 60 Years of Nostra Aetate (Latin words meaning: "In our time"). This was an official declaration of the Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church on its relations with the different religions, released by Pope Paul VI in 1965.

The LCoF meeting recognised that 60 years is a significant milestone, and we should seize this opportunity to propagate its message, given its continued relevance in the light of growing anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish, anti-migrant hate speech & extremism threatening community safety, cohesion and mutual trust.

One faith leader remarked that Britain—and indeed the world—needs this message today even more than it did 60 years ago.

Explaining the document Fr David Nixon MSC Parish Priest of St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Parish Church (Gardenia Avenue) said, “It was really groundbreaking in terms of its attention to respect and regard for other faiths, respect for humanity, respect for creation, the sacred and the divine, and seeing the goodness and beauty and truth in the other faiths, and also its emphasis on the need to working together.”

He further explained, “It is a very rich document. At its 60th anniversary, Pope Leo emphasised how all the faiths have shared moral concerns – care for the environment, and care for the dignity of humanity. All of those values and concerns for peace and for working together see us on holy ground, as we understand each other's space, trying to encourage dialogue, to move away from labelling and judging, and to move away from prejudice and ignorance, to a deeper understanding. And there's such a need for that in our societies, in our countries, in the world, to promote peace, to promote friendship, to promote dialogue and to promote the sense of reverence and respect for each other’s faiths.”

Fr Nixon belongs to a Catholic Order called the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. He said, “The word heart is a very rich symbol because every country, every culture, and every faith in the world looks at the heart as the centre of the person. And when we do that, we discover that we have far more in common in terms of our humanity to unite us than to divide us. Nostra Aetate is that symbolism of the heart, and if we can encounter each other, heart to heart, it breaks down the barriers and the prejudices.”

Helen Burgess, the University of Bedfordshire Co-Lead Chaplain said, “It not just about inter-faith dialogue, but also about how we as Catholics relate to other Christians. The document Nostra Aetate shifted everything. It is not yet being fully lived out. There is still more for us to do, and to learn by recognising that our belief, our faith can be strengthened by our encounter with other Christians and with people from different faith traditions.”

Helen highlighted a statement in the document that says that the Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in the world religions. In other words, it calls us to respect and welcome all that is true and holy in different faiths. And that's very beautiful, Helen explained, especially as it enables the University Chaplaincy to act and do what it does on a daily basis, with significant help from the Luton Council of Faiths.

Ryad Khodabocus, Head of Luton Council of Faiths complemented both Helen and Fr Nixon and said, “I wish what you've been saying could be put on TikTok. It is so beautiful on so many levels, especially as you talked about the space of the heart; we need to nurture that. You also talked about the sense of reverence and respect for one another; I think we've lost that today, but we need to nurture that too. Luton Council of Faiths is a small organisation, with extremely limited resources, but it is good that the OPCC (Office of Police and Crime Commissioner) and LBC (Luton Borough Council) are trying to help us. We are living in extremely dangerous and threatening times, and so reflecting on this document reminds us of two important quotes that are quite relevant for our times. One by Hans Kung that there’ll be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions, and second by Abraham Lincoln that I destroy my enemies by making them my friends.”

https://www.facebook.com/groups/LutonFaiths/permalink/24593801716965451/

This cold and crispy Interfaith week and the Heart Space

By Ryad Khodabocus, Head of Luton Council of Faiths | 19th November 2025

This morning, as snow fell steadily for hours we watched Autumn’s colours slowly surrendered to a quiet veil of white; the landscape became a gentle tapestry of light and stillness.

Snow, in spiritual wisdom, speaks of purity, renewal, and inner stillness. It invites us to pause, reflect, and release what no longer nourishes us, reminding us that healing often happens beneath the surface, unseen but deeply real.

As we contemplate this Interfaith Week, our thoughts turned to Fr Dixon from St Joseph Catholic Church reflecting on creating the Heart Space and Helen Burgess from the University Chaplaincy as she reflected on the 1965 Nostra Aetate - Catholic document encouraging Christian Ecumenism and Inter-faith engagement.

The Nostra Aetate timeless words echoed the hush of the snowfall:

“The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions… those precepts and teachings which… reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all human beings...”

Like snow gently covering the earth, these words soften boundaries and reveal our shared ground. They call us toward openness, reverence, and the quiet courage to recognise the sacred in one another.

In the silence of winter’s first snowfall, I felt it clearly: nature and spirit whispering the same invitation to reset, realign, and begin again.

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Inter Faith Week 2025 – Luton Celebrated 60 Years of Nostra Aetate